07/28/2008, Puerto Vallarta, Nayarit, Mexico
Hi all!
Well, we made it to Mexico. Seems like it has been forever since Kirsty sent me the link to a C&C in Mexico... and what started out as a "yeah, right!" has turned into a life change for both of us. We have leased our house, sold the car, tossed everything into a 20' container (save the 250kgs we shoved onto Qantas) and relocated our life to following summer for 2 years.
As you might have noticed, blogging and getting things up here take awhile, we now are in the marina on Nemesis and are slowly getting on top of things. I will be putting up some addition information on the boat, and our cruising plans (which are still being figured out), as well as starting to add some pictures to the blog.
The trip down from San Diego was painless, a small "regional" jet, as they call them. 2x2 seating, and barely enough room in the overhead locker for a soft duffel bag. Don't ask about the toilet for a 6' tall guy!
BUT, funny thing is, there was more foot room and knee room than on Qantas or JetStar, so I was quite happy with it.
Customs was a breeze, with the only thing nabbed being the Beef Jerky I had bought in the US... Funny, i've had beef jerky taken by me by customs agents around the world.. you think I'd learn!
So Nick and Carol Rau were are boat brokers, great service and the nicest people! Highly recommended! Carol picked us up from the airport, and got us settled into the boat. I'm attaching the first photo to the blog, except the main boat shot, of us boarding Nemesis for the first time... thanks for the shot Carol!
So we got on, pretty exhausted, went up to the main resort for dinner and walked on the beach after. What would be on the beach, but a turtle (green turtle, maybe - as we don't have our naturalist guides yet) laying eggs! Not twenty feet from all the beach lounges that will be full of tourists the next day. Maybe it's a safer place for the babies, or maybe her fore bearers have been laying on that beach for thousands of years.. who knows, but pretty damned cool!
So after a hot night's sleep, we got up and hit the store for breakie stuff. Washing the topsides and getting all the paperwork sorted with Nick and Carol took up the morning and early afternoon. So at 4:30pm we FINALLY dropped the dock lines for our first sail! And of course the boat slowly crabbed to the left, with the stern getting oh so close to the dock!... ah, the fun of backing a new boat. Note to self, confirm the wheel is centered, use the throttle with athority, enough to get water moving over the rudder for steerage!! So with Kirsty in the front, ready to fend off the boat to our right... me hopping back onto the dock to give the butt a lil push off the dock... then leaping back into the cockpit we are on our way! After that the sail went smooth... shh, don't remind Kirsty of the unplanned tacks when things like the radar started working (thought it was broken, or a cable unattached)... funny how you have to actually concentrate on sailing when you helm!
But the boat sailed nicely with two newbies on board. We think the bum is pretty dirty, but as there are small salties and signs for Crocs, we won't be diving on the boat in the marina to check :) We started out at 3.5 knots, on the breeze... finding the heady luff line loose picked up another .5 knot. Getting the main sorted picked up another knot... so close to 5 knots, with 11 knots of breeze and a dirty bum... we were happy enough! :)
Returning to the marina, the few people at the yacht club on a Sunday had fun watching me "dock" against a phantom slip, as I practiced how Nemesis handles under slow forward and reverse. She walks very nicely to the left, perfect if the dock is always on the left, as ours in now... so after entertaining the locals for a few, we slid her right back into our slip. Only four feet off the dock... Note to self: make sure Kirsty has her shoes on, and is NOT at the port gate in the life lines to jump off... up at the spreaders is the fattest part of the boat, and the best place to jump from... so after backing in and out three times, threw it in neutral and I jumped over to place the stern line... after that NO PROBLEMO :)
We finished the night with a BBQ of snags and beer.... and finally walked up the the yacht club for showers, a swim... and a hot tub! (Not, RMYS - Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron - has the PERFECT location for a big hot tub on the roof... put THAT into the master plan!)... Last learning of the day - if the men's showers are deserted, and you have to use the restroom just before showering... TAKE YOUR FOB! I found out the hard way that the shower room is locked from the toilets by a fob! So I'm in my birthday suit going out into the lobby (only door unlocked) hoping the Kirsty was still in the ladies room finishing her shower! I got lucky, enough said... first blog from Nemesis. Out.
| 01 Mexico |
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Comments [0]
07/18/2008, California
I cant believe we ever made it out of Australia - next time I think about sending a joke email to Jeff about buying a yacht in Mexico someone stop me!
What a task it was, we finished packing and cleaning up the house at 4am on Tuesday morning, all ready to get up bright and early for our flight to the USA. Qantas had other plans - we got a call at 7.30am telling us that our flight from Sydney to LA had been delayed by 9 hours - eek what a way to start what turned out to be an interesting day.
My Aunt Rosemary had very kindly and we think bravely offered to drive us and all our luggage - about 200kg to the airport, so we decided to head up to Sydney as originally planned, we had nothing left to do in Melbourne anyway. We wiled away a few hours in the Qantas club, a few wines and snacks and free wireless, what else to do you need? It was the first time we have sat down and done nothing for months - we adjusted to Island time, NT time, nothing to do time, whatever you want to call it pretty easily.
To cut a very long story short - we moved off our original LA flight to the direct SFO flight, giving up an upgrade to Biz Class in the process... As we boarded the SFO flight - with a delay of only 3.5 hours, instead of the original 9 hours if we had taken the LA flight, we were amazed and delighted that we had once again been upgraded to Biz class - thanks Qantas....
We arrived feeling very full (way too much food) and very rested - both of us had about 8 hours sleep. We headed straight up to Jeff's parents place and we are here right now catching up with them, getting into the time zone and enjoying the very warm weather, about 35 degrees to all you freezing Melbournites.
| Our Adventures Ashore |
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07/18/2008
We had lots of you threatening to visit, we are happy to say someone has actually taken the plunge and booked their flights... thanks Mum & Dad
Bill and Leigh will be joining us from Feb 2nd 09 to Mar 2nd 09, somewhere in South America... stayed tuned for exact locations closer to the date
Let us know when you plan to visit so we can add you to the list.
| Visitors: what to bring and expect |
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Happy sailing!!
07/15/2008
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Here is a series of Marketing and Technical Infromation on the C&C 41 that we bought. We have a few upgrades and changes, some we like and some we don't, but this will give you a bit of feel for "NEMESIS" :)
| Nemesis: the sailboat |
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| Nemesis: the sailboat |
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| Nemesis: the sailboat |
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